Episode 243 – #dontlookatme

The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Matt’s recovering puppy, the Yasiel Puig + Madison Bumgarner feud becoming an enjoyable meme, having no interest in Tim Tebow, being wary of the Cubs lineup after they’ve clinched, being interested in the Cubs bench after they’ve clinched, Andrelton Simmons’ viability against lefties, and a great article by a Giants beat writer.

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Continuing to shrive, we this week take a gimlet-eyed look at our in-season predictions. We omit any further references to our several in-season comments promoting our tragically mistaken vision of the Advent of the Five-Inning Pitcher, in penance for which we have already donned hairshirts.

Very Bad Predictions

–June 1: Mark Reynolds has “lost his power” and “will soon become a headache” to his owners. What we said at the time would still sound kind of plausible, if what subsequently occurred hadn’t occurred. At the beginning of June, despite playing in Coors and having generally good stats, Reynolds had unprecedentedly few home runs and was getting by on a bunch of seeing-eye opposite-field ground balls that had produced a ridiculous BABIP of .411. Almost immediately thereafter, though, he started (a) pulling the ball and (b) hitting fly balls, many of which (c) went for home runs. Read the rest of this entry »

Ahhhh, mid-September, when fantasy owners out of the running for a prize spot shift their attention to football, leaving all the hidden gems to you! It’s a wonderful time of year as sudden full-timers are free for the taking on your deep league roster. Here are two of ’em.

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I’m unsure there’s a better way to wake up than to your team having won through the night. Yes, it’s September and I should just be staying up as the Jays reach to rediscover their offense ahead of a (sigh) likely wild-card game, but some nights you just have to let go. And again, waking up to that news is better than coffee. I hope your day started well, too.

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Most of you that are still paying attention are scanning the pitching wire daily, looking for any help in your last matchup, your last two weeks of life in your roto league. So why make things complicated. Here’s a daily matchup / streaming calendar that just might help. Every day over the rest of the work week, with a shallow, mixed, and deep league option I like.

Good luck!

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Robbie Ray’s latest eight strikeout, five runs allowed effort, has continued what has become a baffling season from a results perspective. His 4.66 ERA is obviously poor and ranks 13th worst among all qualified Major League starters. But he has still attracted interest from fantasy owners thanks to a plethora of strikeouts. Let’s take a look at where he ranks in a variety of metrics among 78 qualified starters to get a better idea of just how bizarre his performance has truly been.

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Today’s transcript is go. Lots of dynasty and keeper questions.

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I’m an Alex Dickerson fan, but I don’t know if anyone else is. He at least appears to have gone largely without fanfare thus far, as evidenced by his lowly ownership rates (4.7 percent at ESPN, 5 percent at Yahoo!). He never projected to be much of anything; former FanGraphs prospector Kiley McDaniel graded Dickerson’s tools below-average across the board, with exception to his plus raw power, and Dickerson led a weak crop of Padres prospects prior to the 2015 season in terms of projected WAR.

Fast forward to 2016, and Dickerson doesn’t look so meager. In 240 Triple-A plate appearances, he generated the Pacific Coast League’s 3rd-best wOBA. In fact, it eerily resembled that of the lauded Willson Contreras, and it only trails by a nonzero margin that of the seemingly powerful Mitch Haniger. Dickerson not only cranked up the power, posting a career-best .240 isolated power (ISO), but also shaved more than 7 percentage points off his strikeout rate (K%). The hit tool that once graded out well-below-average suddenly looked like a solid asset. While some hitters sacrifice power to refine their plate discipline or contact skills, Dickerson’s 3-year ISO of .199 from 2013-15 increased about 40 points.

The best news is the gains have carried over to the Major League level. To attest, Dickerson’s plate discipline, by definition, is above average:

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Agenda

1. Tuesday Chat
2. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard
3. Daily DFS
4. SaberSim Observations
5. Tomorrow’s Targets
6. Factor Grid

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Episode 242 – Puppy Drugs

The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Matt’s sick dog, still not knowing how to pronounce Robert Gsellman’s name, Dylan being wrong on how Miguel Cabrera has handled lefties this year, Freddy Galvis surging his way into relevance, Ryan Schimpf chasing a weird record, picking anyone from the Rangers lineup vs. Daniel Wright and the Angels, Mallex Smith’s return, and Matt being the old man in his office.

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